Losing it the Healthy Way

Losing it the Healthy Way

Naseha Mushtaq

The trendiest topic in town, which has been the subject of countless arguments and has been researched mercilessly, is weight loss. You only have to type the word “weight” in the Google search bar, and the first suggestion will be “weight loss”. All of us at some point in time may feel the need to lose excess weight. Speaking as a medical student, in this day and age, if you really want to avoid or improve chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular and hormonal diseases, you will have to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and maintain a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index).

Yes, we’ve all heard about “diet and exercise” playing a cardinal role in weight loss, but how do you actually achieve it? We diet for two weeks and then gain the lost weight right up! We go to the gym for a few days, see no change, and then drop the whole idea. Some people even follow aggressive diets that cause nutritional deficiencies; these manifest themselves in extremely irritating ways such as mouth ulcers, sore gums, joint pain, spots on the face, marks on nails, paleness of the skin and conjunctiva of eyes.

If you really want to lose weight and not regain it, you will have to follow a structured plan which does not threaten to compromise your health.

Set a positive goal. For example, the thought that “I want to get slim and healthy” will have a better impact on you than “I do not want to be fat”. Think slim and healthy!

Believe that you can do it. This may sound like a line picked up from a flashy advertisement but I can confirm that this is for real. You have to act on your goal with absolute certainty.

Don’t starve yourself. You have to eat in order to boost your metabolism, so that the body digests food fast. To boost your metabolism, you should have four to five small meals throughout the day, instead of having three large meals.

Diet control with smart choices. Replace your white bread with bran bread, omelette with hard-boiled eggs, junk food with fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, and sodas/soft drinks with fresh juices. Try to consume boiled rice and whole wheat flour, and refrain from buying frozen or canned goods at the supermarket.

Bonus tips to lose weight:

Whenever you feel hungry, eat fruits and raw vegetables. Raw veggies are zero calorie foods, and you can have as many as you like.

Chew your food at least 22 times, so that the duration of your meal is 20-30 minutes. This helps the brain to interpret that you’re getting full and you tend to eat less!

Cut down white sugar from your diet, and add a cup of green tea or lemongrass tea.

Try to eat less after six o’clock in the evening.

Just sweat it all out. Start with 10 minutes of cardio exercises (which are easily available on YouTube) and a 30-minute brisk walk for five days a week. Ideally, the best time to exercise is early in the morning. However, it is better to exercise at any time of the day than to not exercise at all.

Incorporate more and more activity in your daily lives. Instead of driving to nearby places, walk. Park your car at some distance to your workplace and get some walking done. Climb stairs whenever you can and avoid elevators.